THE PRESIDENT: Thank you
all. Welcome. Nice to see everybody. Thank you
very much. I've just finished icing down my
arm. (Laughter.)

Today there's some news out on our economy, and it confirms that
the events of September the 11th really shocked the
nation. It affected our work force, and affected our
business base. The Gross Domestic Product for the third
quarter was negative.

People are having tough times in America. People are
losing their jobs. And I'm deeply concerned about that, and
I know you are, as well. Consumer confidence is down. After
all, we're at war, and for the first time in our nation's history, part
of the battlefront is here at home.

Shipments, particularly in the manufacturing sector, declined
dramatically in recent months. And it's time for our
government to act in a positive and constructive way. The
Congress needs to pass a stimulus package and get it to my desk before
the end of November.

I had breakfast today with the Speaker and Minority Leader,
Majority Leader Daschle and Senator Lott -- all five of us agreed that
we need to work together to get a package; that we've got to put aside
political differences and act swiftly and strongly on behalf of the
American worker and the American business person. And so my call to
Congress is: Get to work and get something
done. The American people expect us to do just
that. (Applause.)

I want to thank Paul O'Neill for being here. He is
leading the charge on Capitol Hill for a common-sense economic stimulus
package. He brings a lot of experience to the
job. After all, he was a manufacturer at one
time. He knows the struggles that you go
through. And, like me, he hurts with the workers who aren't
finding work these days.

And I appreciate Christie Todd being here, as well. One
of the smartest things I've done is to tap some of my former governor
colleagues and ask them to come to the government. I tapped
a great one when I tapped Christie Todd Whitman. She brings
a lot of sense and a good view of our environmental
policy. And the American people are proud of the job she's
doing, and so am I. Thank you for both being here.

I also want to thank Tim very much for his friendship and his
introduction. I didn't realize you were quite so
eloquent. (Laughter.) You must be taking speech
lessons. (Laughter.) I want to thank Don
Wainwright, as well, and of course, Jerry Jasinowski for his friendship
and support.

I -- the American people know that we have acted quickly in terms
of this attack that has taken place, and we've done so on the domestic
front in quick order. Both Republicans and Democrats decided
to spend a considerable sum of money to address the country's needs.

We've allocated $55 billion, and it didn't take long to spend it, I
might add. A big chunk of that is going to go to make sure
we defend our country, make sure our Defense Department is bolstered
during this war. A significant amount of money went to help
New York City recover, as it should. We want New York City
to be on her feet. It's an important symbol for the world
that New York City be strong and vibrant.

We spent a considerable amount of money for airplane
security. My attitude was that the most directly affected
industry was the airline industry and, therefore, we had to spend money
to make sure the airlines survived, and make sure there was loan money,
and make sure that the consumer realized that the government was acting
in a positive way to bring security to our airports.

And the first act we took was to empower governors to say, bring
your guard to the gates. Put troops so that people will see
a visible presence. And we started to increase the air
marshals. And Congress is now working on an airport security
bill, and I hope I am able to sign that pretty quickly, too.

But we are taking action. And we need to spend money on
helping workers who were -- lost their job as a result of the attack of
September the 11th. I believe we need to expend -- extend
and expand that unemployment benefits to those workers. And
I know we need to expand what they call national emergency grants,
which will give governors the latitude to take federal monies, and
apply that money to workers -- special workers' needs, such as health
care benefits, to make sure that any laid off worker can have -- be
able to pay the premiums of their health care plans.

And so there will be -- there's more need. But I caution
the Congress not to overspend. The temptation is to fund
everybody's good idea. And my attitude is that our money
ought to be focused and effective; the spending ought to be
focused. And we ought to ask the question, is this effective
spending. We need to make sure that when we spend there's a strategy
and a reason.

And so I look forward to working with the appropriators to be
responsible about how we spend taxpayers' money, particularly as we run
up to what I hope is a recess around the Thanksgiving
period. And we also ought to make sure that we offset any
spending with tax relief; that the way to have a balanced stimulus
package is to recognize we've spent a considerable amount of money up
to date, and we need to spend some more for our workers, but we ought
to offset that with tax relief. And I have laid out some
ideas for Congress to consider.

One the one hand, we've got to make sure that we bolster consumer
demand by both accelerating the tax cuts that now exist, as well as
providing rebates for non-taxpayers, but who filed. In other
words, there are some people who didn't get rebates last year --
generally, low-income people -- that filed an income tax return, but
they didn't pay tax, and they ought to get a rebate.

And Congress ought to act as quickly as possible to get that money
into people's hands as quickly as possible to bolster demand.

And then we've got to make sure our tax relief encourages
investment, encourages the flow of capital. And therefore, I
think we need to reform the alternative minimum tax on corporate
America, so corporate America doesn't have to get penalized during
times of declining earnings -- that doesn't make any sense to do that
-- as well as encourage investment in new plant and equipment.

The House has passed some elements of that plan, and the Senate
needs to act. And any differences we can work out in
conference. But time is of the essence. As I
mentioned, the leadership is prepared to spend the time necessary to
get a good package out, and I'm grateful for that. And I
hope the bill writers get moving. That's what the American
people expect.

I also want the Congress to know that there is more to helping our
economy grow than just tax relief, or just spending. And
there's two items I want to briefly touch on -- one is an energy
plan. Our nation needs an energy plan -- an energy plan that
encourages conservation and encourages exploration. And I
believe we can do both in a responsible way.

And we need to modernize the infrastructure that develops energy
from point A to point B, from plant to consumer. We need to
get after it. It is in our national interest that we have an
energy plan, one designed to make us less reliant upon foreign sources
of energy. (Applause.)

And, as Tim mentioned, I need to have what's called trade promotion
authority. I need to be able to negotiate trade agreements
with nations who want to trade with America. The Congress
can vote the trade agreement down if they don't like it. But
we need to be aggressive when it comes to opening up markets and taking
advantage of opportunities around the world.

This nation should not stand on the sidelines when it comes to free
trade. We must be confident. People who build
walls around America aren't confident in America. They're
not confident in American workers; they're not confident in American
businesses. I'm confident in America's ability to
compete. I want to tear walls down. I want to
make it easier for the world to trade in freedom. I think
it's good for American workers that we trade. I think it's
good for American business that we trade. And I know it's
good for the spread of American values if we trade freely around the
world. (Applause.)

And so, I ask the Congress to be confident as we approach these big
issues; be confident in the ability of the American people; be
confident in the ability of the entrepreneur to succeed; be confident
in our future of the country. And that's exactly the way I
feel.

This is a very unusual period in American history,
obviously. We've never been attacked like this
before. We're still being attacked. Our heart
goes out to anybody who suffers in America. And so, we're
bolstering our homeland defense. We're disrupting and
denying anybody who wants to harm the American people. We
spend hours tracking down every possible lead of somebody who would
come into this country or who might be burrowed in this country, trying
to hurt any American. And I'm proud of our law enforcement
officials, who work nonstop, around the clock, taking every single lead
and pursuing it to its end.

Yesterday -- or a couple of days ago, I put the country on alert
for a reason; that, on the one hand, while we will go about our
business of going to World Series games or shopping or traveling to
Washington, D.C., I want our law enforcement officials to know we had
some information that made it necessary for us to protect the United
States assets, to protect those areas that might be
vulnerable. And that's exactly what's taking place today.

And we're also fighting a war overseas, with the purpose of hunting
down the evildoers and bringing them to justice. And I'm
patient and I'm focused, and I will not yield. We must
win. We have no other choice, for our children and our
grandchildren, that we bring any terrorist to justice and hold those
nations who harbor them -- which harbor them, or feed them, or clothe
them to justice, as well. And the United States will
prevail. (Applause.)

People ask me about the economy. They say, are you
worried? I say, I'm worried any time anybody loses a
job. But in the long term, I'm optimistic about the U.S.
economy. We've got good tax policy. We've got low
interest rates. We've got the best workers in the
world. We've got an entrepreneurial spirit that is
infectious and strong, and alive and well. We are the best place to do
business in the entire globe. And that hadn't changed.

But I'm optimistic for another reason. I'm optimistic
because the spirit of this country is incredibly
strong. This is a fabulous nation. The evil ones thought
they could affect the spirit of America, but it's had an opposite
effect. Our country is patient; our country is resolved; our
country is united, regardless of our religion, regardless of where we
live, regardless of our political party. We're united behind
the fact that we must rise to this occasion. And rise we
will. We will plant that flag of freedom forever, by winning
the war against terrorism, by rallying our economy, and by keeping
strong and adhering to the values we hold so dear, starting with
freedom. (Applause.)

I want to thank you all for letting me come by. Thank
you for letting me come by. (Laughter.) Keep
working hard. Keep working hard. And may God
continue to bless America. (Applause.)